Re:common house as public building | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcome![]() |
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Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 12:17:05 -0600 (MDT) |
>Rob wrote "I can see no advantage to having a commonhouse as a public >building and see all kinds of potential disadvantages." A building can be less than totally private without being full of graffiti and vandalism! At first I was resentful of the building department's requirements, but have come to see many advantages to our construction as a "public" building. How much public use we have is a decision we can evolve based on our experience, to balance the benefits with the negatives. Our building classification doesn't force us to do anything in particular. In our case, I see the negatives as wear and tear, insurance increases, and the potential for some dishonest person to note that we have all sorts of good stuff in this usually unlocked building. I assume if we charge for use of the building, we will charge more than enough to offset the wear and tear and additional insurance. Theft and such is almost a nonexistent problem in Port Townsend, where many people proudly tell you they don't own a key to their house. (I have a key, somewhere, but in 5 years have never used it.) Degrees of "public" use: = guests at RoseWind functions (at our common house opening party, we included our building subcontractors) = socials and meetings hosted by a RW member, almost all of whom are active with local organizations such as the Food Coop, Land Trust, Women's Center, Credit Union, salmon and forest groups, Artist's Way, Democratic and Green parties. Meeting space is sometimes scarce in town. Birthday parties and such by members, for nonmember friends = eventually, events like weddings? contra dances? yoga classes? = if we can figure out that it's legal (we're a nonprofit corporation, but not a 501c3), renting to someone like a caterer, who could use our fine kitchen when we are not. Benefits of public use: Community building in our town - not being an enclave, but enriching the existing community. Raising awareness of cohousing in general, and RoseWind in particular, to increase our chances of community-minded people buying in, when we have resales. This is VERY important, since we are otherwise vulnerable in this regard. Responsible sharing of the resources invested in this large building - all the materials used to build it, for example- when we may average only a few hours a day of use ourselves. And by building with public use in the code requirements, we have ADA accessibility for any of us or our guests who will benefit from it, and we have the benefits of a commercial dishwasher (about a minute a load: wow!). I would suggest that this is an issue which will involve unique factors for each group, depending on their surrounding community, financial resources (though who can't use more money?), and membership usage of the building. Lynn Nadeau RoseWind Cohousing Port Townsend WA http://www.olypen.com/sstowell/rosewind _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
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Re:common house as public building Lynn Nadeau, April 16 2001
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RE: Re:common house as public building Rob Sandelin, April 17 2001
- Re: Re:common house as public building Ann Zabaldo, April 17 2001
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Re: Re:common house as public building Elizabeth Stevenson, April 17 2001
- Re: Re:common house as public building Ann Zabaldo, April 17 2001
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RE: Re:common house as public building Rob Sandelin, April 17 2001
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